Some recent projects, among many others

Here's one of those boring collected photos posts just to keep up with some of the projects the kiddos are up to these days.

Experiments in ice.

Geomag stegosaurus.

Helium balloon basket experiments.

Tangram tessellation I.

Tangram tessellation II.

Multi-tiered lego birthday cake.

Lego Halloween decorations.

Watercolor.

It's gonna blow!

The other evening the kids and Jim built a Smithsonian model volcano that we've had sitting around for a little while. They were all very excited about building it and setting it off, painstakingly crafting and molding it and adding the food coloring.


Apparently, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, however, as you can see by their reactions in the photo to the right. Vesuvius it was not.

Halloween Festivities

The kids had a blast on Halloween, and although they all got store-bought costumes, Sam was the only one to wear his—he was a ninja. The girls decided last minute not to be pirate wenches and went instead as Katara and a Kyoshi warrior from the Avatar series. They pulled to gether these costumes themselves from various articles of clothing and were quite pleased with them despite the lack of glitz, glamor and instant recognizability. I'm often amazed by their utter lack of pretense and their disregard of competitive, expensive appearances. Just one of the many perks of not being socialized in a school yard.

Another perk would be the kindness and consideration I so often see displayed. More than one person giving out candy Halloween night was surprised and pleased by how polite the kids were and pleasantly caught off guard by the well-wishes for a Happy Halloween, reactions evidenced in voices and profuse thanks in return.


The kids are not only kind to others, they're very often kind to each other, missing much of the sibling rivalry that's fueled by grade politics and conventional culture. At one point I overheard Emily telling Julia that she planned to give Jules and Sam all the candy she couldn't have because of her braces. To which Jules responded earnestly, "No Em, I'm going to trade you for all of it because I want you to have just as much candy as we have."

By the end of the evening, they'd traded to their hearts' content, sampled and discarded several treats, and enjoyed their fill of their favorites—all the while loading me up with my own favorites like Almond Joys and Butterfingers. The remainder, which filled a gallon ziploc bag, was bagged up and sent into the office with Jim for others to enjoy. The kids were surprised at how little of the candy they liked this year, and I think they're scheming for a way to have Halloween next year and all their favorite candy, too. I see visions of brief trick-or-treating just for the fun of it and store-bought bags of their favorites at home.

Although the pumpkin muffins I made for our Halloween Harvest party weren't a huge hit with my kiddos, the candy selection that filled our Halloween Hunt bags was. The added benefit of keeping all the extra bags was pretty great, too, not to mention getting to hunt for those extras all over again once the party was over. I'm suspecting that our Halloween party may grow as the actual trick-or-treating wanes. Unschoolers, yannow—we just like things the way we like them.

Playing with Fire

Playing with fire is always a fun time in our home, not just because we're latent pyromaniacs, but because fire is all about experimentation. It's always changing, powerful, interesting. Here we are creating a vacuum with a candle—watch the rising water level as the candle uses all the oxygen in the jar.

Pumpkin Picking

Although we grew our own pumpkins this year, there's still nothing more fun than going to a big pick-your-own pumpkin patch, and Summer's Farm is one of the best. My in-laws were down for a visit this weekend, and pumpkin picking seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon. Thankfully, after four straight days of rain, the weather cooperated, and we had a gorgeous afternoon in the sunshine. We enjoyed the giant corn maze, jumping on the huge air pillow, watching pig races, eating apple cider donuts, doing well-pump duck races, sliding down hay slides, and shooting off the corn cannon—arguably the most fun of all! And of course, we ended the day with a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. The kids found some really cool orange ones for carving and some pretty small white ones, and I found some lovely decorative gourds for my Thanksgiving centerpiece, so I was pleased as well. My absolute favorite was a green apple gourd that I'm definitely going to grow here next year. I also got some fun ideas for our Halloween Harvest Farm party next week.

Creamery visit

As part of our commitment to eating local, we've been searching for a new creamery. The one we were using—though mostly we just bought from the grocery store—recently lost its two biggest contracts to Organic Valley, taking its 25 mile radius all the way out to Lancaster. We'd known of a local on-site creamery for a while, but had heard mixed reviews, so we decided to head down and check it out for ourselves.

The kids were immediately enamored with the place, though they were surprised by the machine milking. I guess they'd pictured cows being milked by hand in the same way I'd been milking our goat every morning, and why not? Machine milking isn't exactly intuitive. But then, when one considers how many cows need to be milked twice a day at even a small dairy, machine milking becomes far more obvious a necessity!

We hung out for quite a while so we'd be able to help with the calf milking, which was hugely fun. We played on a giant straw playground they call "Hay Mountain," ate fresh ice cream, and talked briefly with several folks who live and work there. By the end of the day, the kids were begging to let this "please be our creamery!" Talk about buy-in! So, we've found a new creamery that the kids love to visit, making the 50 mile round-trip far more doable, and what's even better is that we can set up delivery for the cold, wet, dark winter and visit only when we want, as I imagine the creamery will lose a bit of its appeal in the coming months. But, then we'll be able to head down again in the spring for calving season, and what fun that will be!

Living....

Just one of those typical day kind of posts, recapping a bit what life looks like here on the farm. We welcome the kids' help with the farm and CSA as much as they'd like, and now, they earn money by doing so. This has been a weird thing for me to figure out because with the house, we don't have "chores," and the money is simply family money. What ever is left over after having paid the bills gets distributed, and we have slush money that goes toward different necessities each month. With the farm, however, I wanted to do something a bit different because the farm and CSA are our "home business," and I wanted the kids to be able to earn money from it as well, for it to be our contribution to the family finances in an empowering way.

How to do this, however, was the tricky part, especially considering we're not yet making money, and the money that's coming in is still being reinvested in infrastructure. A bit abstract for the kids to grasp, and way too future oriented. So, I decided to just start paying them when ever they felt like working, and this system has worked out pretty well because it gives the kids a chance to earn money on top of their regular budget and save more quickly for things they're wanting to buy. No one needs to work who doesn't want to, and it's been interesting to observe the different motivations and work ethics. Jules often helps and has saved a considerable amount already. Sam and Em are far less inclined to help and often do far less work when they're out helping, so we've kind of developed a pay-by-the-animal system rather than an hourly system. Most of the time, however, Sam's content to play—he's being a Chinese dragon in this photo—and leave the money-making to others, though having fewer dollars on the chalk board is a bitter pill at times.

Most of all the kids' time is spent playing—as it should be—and they play amazingly well together most of the time. They recently made a pair of stilts with their dad and have been spending lots of time trying to master the new skill, working hard together. They've been very into building fairy houses recently, thanks to Devin Martin's introduction to the hobby at the Live and Learn Conference. They recently had more Devin-inspired fairy fun carving some of our home-grown pumpkins to build hanging fairy bowers in the front crab apple tree—our one small climbing tree. The girls have rediscovered embroidery, which seems to be a fall activity, brought on by the shorter days and the nesting instinct they generate in us all. Books on CD are a great way to wile away these hours, and we've recently enjoyed The Swiss Family Robinson and Alice in Wonderland, and Em in particular is begging for more. We're considering joining an online audio book club, a la Netflix but for books, to feed this passion, as our library selection is dismal. But while our bodies and interests are turning towards fall, our weather has been doing anything but, and we've enjoyed balmy dinners by candlelight on the patio filled with love, laughter, and delicious homegrown food. Life is good!

An Unexpected Gift

While we've hosted several black swallowtail caterpillars, we've never had the honor of hosting a monarch until this September when Em found one on some milkweed in the pasture. (Milkweed is the only host plant for both the butterfly and the larva, so if you want monarchs, be sure to plant some.) Monarch chrysalides are especially beautiful, resembling delicate jewelry with their soft green hue and golden filament. I was so excited to host one in our home, but, of course, we were leaving in just two days for the Live and Learn Conference.

Upon returning, I was so disappointed to learn that the caterpillar had gone missing while we were gone. Figuring it didn't survive for want of food, I resigned myself to waiting for next year for a monarch. Lo and behold, look what arrived unexpectedly one evening! I still have no idea where it made its chrysalis, and we've looked under and in just about every kitchen surface we can think of to no avail. So much for enjoying the beautiful transformation, but the sheer beauty of this unexpected gift was enough for this season. The kids each got a turn holding it before letting it finish drying its wings on our screen door so it could begin its migration.

Washington, D. C.

This Sunday we went into the city to meet my mother-in-law, nephew and sister-in-law, who was in town for a business meeting on Monday. We started at the National Air and Space Museum, which is always fun for the kids. We spent quite a bit of time in the hands-on "How Things Fly" section of the museum before moving onto the National Museum of the American Indian, which is conveniently right next door. We took time out to eat lunch in the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe, which features different native foods that are representative of different cultures and regions.

After lunch we felt quite refreshed and headed to the top floor of the museum where, unfortunately, the introductory film "Who We Are," was not playing. But we still enjoyed walking around the different galleries and exhibits, listening to stories like the one about Devil's Tower, and visiting the hands-on portion of the museum. Afterwards, we enjoyed the weather and the gorgeous waterfalls that we'd viewed during lunch. (Sam's not angry in that picture—he's just feeling especially earnest about the turtle totem necklace he bought.)

The day was so beautiful and the kids still had quite a bit of energy, so we headed over to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights on display in the rotunda. The kids were totally psyched to see the original documents, and the adults thought it was pretty cool, too.
We were all surprised and a bit dismayed by how faded the documents are—John Hancock's signature is barely visible. Still, just seeing the original documents is such a powerful experience. Of course, we watched National Treasure when we got home that night! (Well, except for Jim who watched the Giants v. Eagles game.) Sam asked one of the guards whether there were really temperature sensors in the cases, but the guard said that part was only in the movie.

On our way home, we stopped for some ice cream and wandered through the National Gallery Sculpture Garden, which is always lovely and relaxing. The kids enjoyed some time by the central fountain, cooling tired feet. The day was absolutely glorious! Spring and Fall are beautiful times to visit D.C., and the best part about all these wonderful places is that they are free to visit—free of course because American tax dollars fund them, but hey, it's still pretty great!

Building an electromagnet

The other day, Jim and the kids built an electromagnet together out of copper wire, a nail and a battery. Jim used a drill to wind the copper wire tightly around the nail, which was pretty cool to watch. Once hooked up to the battery, the kids were able to use the electromagnet to pick up random metal bits like this safety pin. While playing, the kids recalled a Scooby-Doo episode where there was an electromagnet used in a junk-yard and were thrilled to find out that huge magnet worked on the same principles as this small one they'd just helped build. They also tried to build a simple motor using magnets and the battery, but that experiment remains unsuccessful. Even after troubleshooting with a multimeter, we were at a loss. Back to the drawing board on that one.

Post Conference Triste, or Where's my Tribe?!

This year after the conference, we were lucky enough to have two wonderful families from Albuquerque visit us at our farm and then again at our in-law's beach house on the Jersey Shore. I have no pictures of them at the farm, though Jenny assures me that she got some good shots and Beth has some really cute ones, but I have some really wonderful photos from the beach. The weather was a bit breezy and chilly, but overall it was gorgeous and sunny and perfect. We spent our days basking in the sun and splashing in the water while our nights were spent drinking too much good wine and eating too much good food (yeah, there goes those 5 lbs I lost at the conference!). Though come to think of it, Jenny and I were really the only gluttons there—and Beth left without revealing a single vice. No fair! I mean, she doesn't even drink tea in the morning to wake up, making my two cups of ultra-strong Peet's coffee feel like speed or something. Sheesh.

Hosting such lovely ladies was a pleasure, and I'm so grateful to my in-law's for letting us have the house for the week! The kids had a blast, I think, and overall, they did a fabulous job playing, getting along, and finding solutions, considering that several of them had been on the road for 3 weeks, all of them had just been to a huge conference, most of us were dealing with varying stages of cold/ fever ick, and space was at a premium with nine people in the house!

Of course, the space on the beach goes on forever, and thank goodness for the wind and waves that allow little
girls to squeal and screech with sheer delight while protecting adult ears! Watching kids on the beach in September is one of my favorite things ever because, for me, there's little else that symbolizes such perfect freedom and joy. They have the whole beach to themselves while other kids are in school, and between the sand and the water, it's just kid heaven. When we arrived at the beach, one of the first things I did was begin digging a hole, and Beth naively asked what in the world I was doing. "If you dig it, they will come, Beth," as Emma and Eli demonstrate. Kids and sand and holes and waves—yup, heaven!

Live and Learn Conference 2007

We just got back from the Live and Learn Conference down in Black Mountain, NC, and it was a total whirlwind blast from the very first day of tie-dying t-shirts with the Smith family to the last night of the dance fever party! So many people put forth so much energy and enthusiasm to make this year one of the best years yet. The funshop offerings are just phenomenal and get better every year, I think.

I love hosting the letterboxing funshop, and the best part of the whole thing is taking the letterbox when we leave and seeing all the wonderful stamps that people have made. Liz's egg drop funshop was a huge hit with my kiddos, and it was the only funshop Sam really wanted to attend. I'm so glad we caught it before leaving town, and it really wrapped up the week for us on a positive note.

One of our favorites was the belly dancing funshop and performance, and I love the photo of my Maryland crew! There were so many other terrific funshops that it's impossible to list them all. Seeing all the kids' faces light up when they accomplish something new and even consoling them as they stretch their abilities and come up disappointed is a priceless part of the living and learning that happens all week long at the conference.

The best part of the conference though are the connections we get to make with such amazing people from all over the world! Getting to meet folks that we've gotten to know over the year online is so cool, and there's never enough time to spend talking and connecting with each and every person. The glow that comes from hanging out with other unschoolers just can't be beat!

Sleeping Babes, or my house in the morning

Natural History Museum

After dropping Jim at work, the kids and I went into the city to visit the Natural History Museum, arguably our favorite Smithsonian museum. We spent the day wandering through the evolution exhibits, primarily, as the museum was really crowded. We got into the gems exhibit enough to see a few of the large geodes and the Hope Diamond, but turned around because of the crowds. Unfortunately, the Insect Zoo was closed, one of our favorite parts of the museum. All in all, not a terribly successful museum day, but it was fun nonetheless. That's the great part about going so often—short forays are just as fun as longer ones, and there's never any pressure to see or do it all. Combined with the visit to daddy's work, it was a hugely successful day. Well, that's not to mention the three times I got lost while driving in and out of the city. Gawd I hate the GW parkway! I'm so good with everything else and once I get into the city, but we must've seen the Pentagon about 4 times that day! Rather interesting, actually, that we were able to get so close post 9/11—I mean literally in the parking lot right next to the building.

Visiting Daddy at Work

The other day we dropped Jim off at work before heading into the city. His car had died, so he'd taken the truck into work the next day and had an extra vehicle to bring home, so we decided to make a day of it. He is a scientist, so visiting lab is always a whole lot of fun. Emily spent a lot of time in his lab at grad school while I was teaching or doing research, but since leaving campus, we've become very disconnected from his workplace. Adding to that the fact that he's a government researcher adds another layer of security and difficulty to visits, so the kids are always pretty excited when they get to go see daddy's lab.